In self propelled harvesting machines various components such as, for example, charge air coolers, oil coolers, and the internal combustion engine must be supplied with ambient air for the purpose of cooling. Since the surrounding air is frequently pervaded to a great extent with dust particles, screen arrangements are used that include perforated filter elements through which the surrounding air is drawn in and conducted to the aforementioned coolers. Although such screen arrangements are brought into rotation, as a rule, and are equipped with cleaning arrangements that suction or brush off particles from the surface of the filter, maintenance operations have been found useful from time to time that clean particles from the filters in order to remove remaining contaminants and in order to assure an adequate air flow through the filter. Such screen arrangements are usually fastened to an outer wall of the harvesting machine and can be pivoted about the vertical axis into a maintenance position (DE 195 47 348 A1 or WO 01/36794 A1).
In the case of other harvesting machines the screen arrangement extends on the forward side of an engine compartment that encloses the internal combustion engine and extends vertically and transverse to the forward operating direction, the air is taken in at the sides or the upper side of the walls of the harvesting machine and conducted through the screen arrangement (EP 0 481 203 A1, EP 0 667 447 A1 or DE 101 26 523 A1). Usually, in these screen arrangements there is no possibility of bringing the screen arrangements into a maintenance position without disassembly, rather the maintenance is performed by an operator stationed at the forward side of the screen arrangement at an accessible maintenance compartment within the harvesting machine. Since the space is relatively cramped, the operations at that location are found to be difficult and inconvenient.
Finally the configuration according to DE 102 28 213 A1 should be mentioned in which the intake channel can be moved in the vertical direction in order to take in the air that is charged with fewer contaminants at an elevated intake.